“He and my Lionel will be the best of friends. And we will honor Helena every day.”
She swiped at her leaking eyes. “Ladies, go with Jemina, our Lady Ashbrook. She’ll take you all home or to Lady Shrewsbury’s. Thank you all. Searching Covent Garden can be dangerous. Bless you all for helping find my sister.”
“My driver will take them all back,” Lady Ashbrook said. “I’ll send the ladies, but I’m staying with you. The duke would be so upset if he knew your visit to my house was a mission.”
All the Grace women left except my sister and the Ashbrook woman.
“He’ll have to know. We have no secrets, not anymore.” Patience patted her pregnant stomach. “He told me the very moment Gantry left our house, that my sister Cecilia was alive and married to his dearest friend.”
Patience cooed at Noah, then frowned at me. “But it can’t be much of a marriage if you’ve been in hiding for months.”
Lady Ashbrook came closer. “A woman only runs for two reasons: to be away from an ogre or to be with another.”
Both of those options weren’t quite true in my case. Nor were they wholly deniable. I left because of the horrible accusations, but I ran to Tramel.
“There can be a third,” I finally said after a long, guilty pause. “To find oneself is my reason.”
“Was Gantry mean to you, sister? You can never trust the quiet ones. Jemina, get ready to hit him again.”
“No, Patience. He’s never been cruel. He’s never lifted a hand to me unless it was my command to brandish a torch or Papa’s knife.” Like I used to, I ducked my head onto Patience’s shoulder. “She called you Your Grace. Jordan was not titled. Did your husband become so?”
“My second husband is the Duke of Repington. He was one of Wellington’s strategists in the Great War.”
“Which one? The revolt of the Americans? The revolt in Haiti? That thing in 1812? There have been many.”
“Too many, Chari, and I dread knowing the number of times my husband has risked his life for the king.”
I threaded my fingers together. “How did you rid yourself of Jordan? A church divorce?”
My sister’s brow raised and she had that look like she’d drunk sour wine. “Death. Jordan was killed before I bore his son. Lionel is a beautiful, healthy ten-month-old. My duke and his dearest friend, your husband, helped me figure out that Jordan was murdered.”
Felton did that? That was the type of mission he did for others?
Looking down at the floor, at the snoozing man, my heart went to him. He was good at aiding others. “He helped you, my sister. I don’t know what to say.”
Noah cackled and made a big kissing noise as Enna rotated him against her bosom. Hungry little dear.
My sister and Enna gave life with their bosoms. I wanted to pick up my parcel of brushes and hug it. My art was all I’d birthed.
A little empty, yet full when I thought of my passions, I looked again at Felton with the bits of ugly vase near his face, and wondered what notions in him had changed.
“Chari, I know you liked Jordan.”
“He made us all laugh when he came and swept you away. The house was so thick with mourning.” I tugged up the blanket, exposing Noah’s perfect toes. “I’m so sorry about him.”
“I am too.” Those eyes of Patience’s looked glassy. “But because of the Widow’s Grace, and Jemina, and the duke and Gantry, my life is so different. I have peace. I’m able to offer that to others.”
“Your son is ten months and you’re already married again. Isn’t there some British rule about waiting twelve months to marry? I suppose Jordan can’t complain, being dead and all.”
“There’s always a rule or something to stand in the way. Things just happened between the duke and me. Two stubborn people found that we could be happier together than apart.”
My sister was very smart. I knew she’d phrased her words as a way to make me think differently about Felton. She must’ve forgotten that I was stubborn too. Both sisters were born kicking like goats, as Mama used to say.
“Your husband, Lord Gantry, found out about Papa’s death.”
“Did he tell you what they did to his land? How his brothers and the other landowners strangled his business because he wouldn’t comply? He wouldn’t work his fields with enslaved people, and they made him suffer for it. Helena told me all as she lay dying.”
Patience’s eyes had tears in them again. “No, he didn’t say that. He spared me that truth. Enna told me about Helena. How you rescued her from her shackles and how you helped this one breathe.”
